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The beat goes on. {My running playlist.}

My favorite running-related Christmas present this year was my new shoes, but these would be a close second:

Gone are the days of me constantly jamming my crappy iPhone buds back into my ear holes every 10 steps or relying on a headband to hold them in place! It took me a couple runs and a video on YouTube to get fully acclimated to my new yurbuds, but now that I am actually installing them in my head correctly, I’m in love. The sound quality is boss while still allowing me plenty of access to ambient noise.

Anyway, this cool girl Lauren who reads my blog, also loves yurbuds, and is always so full of good ideas suggested to me the other day that I make a post about what I listen to on my shiny new headphones when I run. More power to all of you who run without music and I think you are amazing, but I just cannot do it if I’m going any longer than a mile or two. Even music with the volume turned down to barely a whisper works better than nothing for me. On a longer distance run I’m pretty sure I’d go bananas if I was left with only the thoughts in my head and also there have been times when a certain song has gotten me through a tough spot. It’s kind of a neat feeling to be struggling with a hill or something later on in a run and then the most motivational song fills my head and suddenly I’m singing and kicking ass all the way to the top.

And yes I do sing when I run. I also lip sync and fist pump and even dance a little if I’m really feeling frisky. Ask anyone who saw me running in the Baltimore half.

I guess I should start with my device and how I have things set up on there. I run with my iPhone and have crafted playlists for a variety of run distances that I might be tackling. So for example I have a playlist entitled “So You’re Running a 5K” and then one called “So You’re Running a 10K” and so on and so forth. This option has worked out really well for me. Each of these playlists start off slower and more relaxed and then get more up-tempo as I get farther into my run. Not only does this help later when I need that extra boost, but I’ve found the slower tunes in the beginning help to slow me down. I know I can’t be the only one who has a problem with going out too fast. I add to and switch around my music every couple weeks so that things don’t get boring. Here is a sample playlist from the 9 mile run I did this past Saturday and one of my favorite mixes of music as of late. There’s some Katy Perry on there, but don’t worry. I already judge me.

Wheel in the Sky – Journey

Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap

Freedom – George Michael

Price Tag – Jessie J

Panic Station – Muse

Bodyrock – Moby

Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie Minogue

Jump Around – House of Pain

Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke

Breakout – Foo Fighters

Don’t Stop the Party – Pitbull

Teeth – Lady Gaga

Harder Better Faster Stronger – Daft Punk

Applause – Lady Gaga

Roar – Katy Perry

Dragostea Din Tei – O-Zone (Okay so this is possibly the weirdest song ever, but it is AMAZING for a good energy boost!)

The Times They Are A-Changin’ – Flogging Molly

Hello – Martin Solveig & Dragonette

I listen to other judge-worthy songs sometimes too such as What Does the Fox Say?, but that one isn’t so much motivational tempo-wise as its ridiculousness takes my mind off of how much I might be hurting at that moment (it’s later on in my half marathon playlist).

Another cool tool that I discovered awhile ago is a FREE download for your computer called the MixMeister BPM Analyzer. iTunes has a smart playlist function where you can organize your music based on BPM, but most music does not come into your iTunes with that information (although Lady Gaga’s does). MixMeister can analyze and tell me the BPM of each song. I dragged some music files in for an example. This is just a random alphabetical sampling and not necessarily songs I run with:

120 – 140 BPM is the ideal tempo for a workout. This handy application let’s you see the music that falls within that range and you can arrange your playlists accordingly! See? Now I know without a doubt that “Hot Potato” by The Wiggles is WAY too slow for me to want to listen to in the middle of my run. Because I obviously otherwise would have been listening to The Wiggles while I run.

So now…

Let’s Playlist Share!

I love checking out new songs and adding new music to my arsenal. I would love to hear from other runners about what they are rocking out to on their long runs! What are your power songs? The ones that really get you over the hump? Shout them out in the comments so I can raid iTunes later on today for some new stuff!

I’d also love to know what kinds of headphones you all run with and how you organize your running playlists. Or if you don’t even run with music at all I’d love to hear about that as well because I think you are pretty amazing!

I hope everyone out there in Blog Land has a wonderful, happy, and SAFE New Year’s! It’s almost 2014, guys! Let’s make this the best year yet!

14 thoughts on “The beat goes on. {My running playlist.}”

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS POST! Haha. Thank you! I may or may not be sitting at my desk at work downloading songs rather than working. I’m OK with this.

Fun story, since you shared that you sing while you run. I do, too, but didn’t know it. I was running on a treadmill at my gym about a month back and had just finished my 5k and popped out my Yurbuds while I did a cool-down walk. The guy next to me (who was happily trotting away at an 8 MPH pace without breaking a sweat) says to me, “I love that you listen to The Real Slim Shady when you’re running! I totally forgot about that song.” Baffled, I asked him if he’d heard it through my headphones, because that would mean I was totally blasting my eardrums. “No,” he laughed. “You were rapping along with Eminem.” And that is how I learned I sing when I run. WHOOPS.

You’re playlists are so organized, good for you!
Honestly, I gave up music running several months ago, now I can’t go back.
The first sign was at the Disney Marathon in Jan – between my tunes and all the Disney distractions, it just got to be overwhelming and I ripped the phones out of my ears.
Then I read an article where they did a study and found that more experienced and faster runners don’t listen to music because they’re so focused on every step they take and how their bodies are feeling.
I started going without on shorter runs, but then I went for a long run with music, and I could only go 50 yards before I found it too distracting – had to take it off. It took me 6 years to get to this point though.

I love how when you know a song, you don’t read the title, but instead hear the song. Or at least I always have 🙂

I have heard really good things about the Yurbuds, glad they work for you!

I am one of those ‘no music’ people … but figure I started running 12 years before the iPod came out, so headphones were a mess back then! But even still, I use that time to connect with nature, and spend time inside my own head.

And it is also funny how even as your kids grow past things, you are stuck with them. I still sing Veggie Tales songs, and my wife and I watched the end of High School Musical 2 the other night! 🙂

I love this – and thank you for the inspiration for playlists stuff for the new year. I’m really not up on most new music – most pop drives me nuts BUTTT I see many on your list that would get me moving quickly!!! I love reading others playlists for this purpose sometimes you just don’t think of the songs yourself. 🙂

Looks like you are pretty set using MixMeister but another service you can try is jog.fm. It’s free and allows you to choose songs based on your pace (or cadence if you cycle). I’ve never used the app but I have created a few playlists based on BPM/cadence.

Hello!

Mom, graphic designer, yogi, and runner {always in progress}. Fluent in sarcasm. Running shoe and lip gloss hoarder. Loves wine, coffee, power tools, and horror movies. Spends WAY too much money at Target. Sharing my journey one mile at a time and hoping that I can motivate others along the way!

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